Interchangeable wire drive for wire feeder and spool gun

ABSTRACT

A modular welding wire feed drive for use in a welding system. The welding wire feed drive is designed to be detachably connected to the welding wire feed system of the welding system. The welding wire feed drive includes a drive housing designed to be detachably connectable to the welding wire feed system, a wire contact arrangement designed to controllably feed welding wire through the welding wire feed drive, and a drive motor that is connected to or interconnected to the wire contact arrangement to at least partially drive the wire contact arrangement.

The present invention is related to the art of welding and moreparticularly to welders that include the use of wire feeders.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wire feeders for electric arc welders typically include a welding wiredrive assembly that pulls welding wire from a welding wire source (e.g.,wire spool, canister of wire, etc.) and then feeds the welding wire tothe welding gun. The wire drive assembly typically includes one or moredrive wheels that pull and push the welding wire at a desired orcontrolled wire feed speed so that the proper amount of molten metal isdeposited on a workpiece during the formation of a weld bead or thelike.

Two general configurations are used to feed welding wire to the weldinggun. In one configuration, the wire feeder is connected to or integratedwith the welder. In this configuration, the wire feeder includes anintegrated motor, drive rollers, gears, and wire guides designed to drawthe welding wire from a welding wire source and then push the weldingwire through a welding cable and through the welding gun. The length ofthe welding cable is typically several feet long (e.g., 10-50 ft.). Assuch, more rigid welding wire (e.g., carbon steel based wire, stainlesssteel based wire, titanium wire, nickel based wire, etc.) is used insuch configurations. These types of welding wire are less likely to kinkas the wire is pushed from the drive rollers of the wire feeder, throughthe welding cable and into and through the welding gun. Kinking of thewelding wire as it is being fed to the welding gun can result in thewelding wire becoming jammed in the welding cable and/or welding gun,thus requiring the welding process to be terminated and the jammedwelding wire to be freed. Kinking of the welding wire can also result inerratic and/or improper welding wire feed rate during a weldingoperation.

For welding wire that is more prone to kinking (e.g., aluminum basedwire, etc.), another configuration is typically used to feed the weldingwire into and through the welding gun. In this configuration, the wirefeeder is positioned on or closely adjacent to the welding gun. Thiswelding gun is commonly referred to as a “spool” gun and is typicallysold as a separate accessory. The wire feeder on the spool gun draws thewelding wire from a welding wire source and pushes the welding wirethrough the welding gun. The welding wire source typically is a spool ofwire connected to the spool gun, however, the welding wire can be drawnthrough the welding cable. The wire feeder on the spool gun alsoincludes a motor, drive roller, gears and wire guides that draw thewelding wire from a wire source and pushes the welding wire a shortdistance through the welding gun. The short distance that the weldingwire is pushed results in a decreased incidence of kinking of thewelding wire during a welding process.

Many types of welders are designed for use in multiple types of weldingoperations that use many types of welding wires. Many welders comeequipped with a wire feeder that is designed to push the welding wirethrough a cable to the welding gun. Commonly, these wire feeders areintegrated with the welder; however, the wire feeder can be a separatedevice that is used in conjunction with the welding unit. Theses type ofwire feeders are commonly used in many applications since the weldinggun is lighter and smaller, thereby making the welding gun easier touse. Welding guns that include or are integrated with a wire feeder aretypically bulkier and heavier. The inconvenience from the weight andbulkiness the welding gun is further aggravated when a spool of weldingwire is connected to the welding gun or wire feeder on the welding gun.However, when a welding operation requires the use of a less rigid wire(e.g., aluminum based wire, etc.), these types of welding guns are used.When such welding guns are connected to the welder by a welding cable,two wire feeders typically exist, one on the welding gun and one on thewelding unit or a wire feeder that is used in conjunction with thewelding unit. When the welding wire is drawn through the welding cableby the wire feeder on the welding gun, the wire feeder at the weldingmachine must be disabled so that the welding wire is only pulled to thewelding gun. The operation of both wire feeders at the same time canresult in improper wire feed rates and/or increased incidence of linkingof the welding wire. The disabling of the wire feeder on the weldingunit or on the separate wire feeder can be both inconvenient and timeconsuming.

Although the components of wire feeders on a spool gun and on a weldingunit or separate wire feeder used in conjunction with a welding unit arevery similar, the two wire feeders are separately purchased and theircomponents are not interchangeable. As such, there are increased costsand inconveniences associated with having to purchase, maintain, and/orstore two separate wire feeder arrangements. Therefore, there is ademand for a more versatile wire feeder arrangement that is simpler touse and is less costly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an interchangeable and/or modularwelding wire feed drive for welding wire used in a welding system suchas, but not limited to, an electric arc welding system. In accordancewith one aspect of the present invention, the welding wire feed drive isdesigned to be a modular-detachable unit. The welding wire feed drivesystem can be designed to be a) detachably connected to a wire feederthat is integrated in a welding unit, b) detachably connected to aseparate wire feeder that is used in conjunction with a welding unit,and/or c) detachably connected to a wire feeder that is on or integratedwith a welding gun. As can be appreciated, the welding wire feed drivecan be designed to be detachably connected in other and/or additionalways and/or regions of a welding system. The welding wire feed drive isa versatile system that enables a user to configure the wire feedingarrangement of a welding system for a particular operation. When thewelding system is to be used with a more rigid welding wire (e.g.,carbon steel based wire, stainless steel based wire, titanium wire,nickel based wire, etc.), the welding wire feed drive is typicallyplaced in a wire feeder system that is integrated in and/or is used inconjunction with a welding unit. In this configuration, the welding wirefeed drive draws welding wire from a wire source and then pushes thewelding wire through a welding cable that is connected to a welding gunand then through the welding gun to be deposited in molten form on aworkpiece. When the welding system is to be used with a less rigidwelding wire (e.g., aluminum based wire, etc.), the welding wire feeddrive is typically placed in a wire feeder system that is on orintegrated with a welding gun. In this configuration, the welding wirefeed drive draws the welding wire from a wire source and then pushes thewelding wire through the welding gun to be deposited in molten form on aworkpiece. As can be appreciated, a more rigid welding wire can also beused in a spool gun, but such a setup is typically not used due to thedisadvantages associated with the bulkiness and additional weight of aspool gun. The ability to use the welding wire feed drive in both typesof welding operations reduces the amount of equipment an operator needsfor various types of welding operations, simplifies the setup ofthewelding system when converting between a welding operation that uses amore rigid welding wire and a less rigid welding wire, and/or reducesthe equipment cost associated with equipping the welding system for usein a variety of different welding operations.

In accordance with another and/or alternative aspect of the presentinvention, the welding wire feed drive includes a drive housing designedto be detachably connectable to the welding wire feed system. The drivehousing is typically formed of a durable material (e.g., metal, plastic,reinforced polymers, etc.) so as to withstand the typical environment ofa welding system and/or to protect one or more components containedwithin the drive housing. The drive housing is configured so that it canbe both connected to a drive housing interface on 1) a stand-alone wirefeeder and/or a wire feeder integrated in a welder unit and 2) a weldinggun and/or wire feeder system integrated with a welding gun. In onespecific design, the drive housing interface of a welding gun may merelyconstitute a welding gun handle that is connectable to the drivehousing; however, it can be appreciated that the drive housing interfaceon a welding gun can be some other and/or additional component. As canalso be appreciated, the drive housing can be designed to be detachablyconnected in other and/or additional regions of a welding system. Theconfiguration of the drive housing is selected to facilitate in the easeand convenience of connecting and disconnecting the drive housing fromthe drive housing interface. The drive housing can include one or moreconnectors (e.g., tabs, latches, clips, quick-connect, etc.) thatfacilitate in releasably securing the drive housing to the drive housinginterface.

In accordance with still another and/or alternative aspect of thepresent invention, the welding wire feed drive includes a wire contactarrangement designed to contact the welding wire and to drive thewelding wire at least partially through the welding wire feed drive. Inone non-limiting embodiment, the wire contact arrangement includes atleast one drive roller. As can be appreciated, other and/or additionalconfigurations can be used. The drive roller can include one or morerough surfaces to facilitate in the gripping of the welding wire so asto reduce slippage of the welding wire. When two drive rollers are used,the drive rollers can be positioned adjacent to one another and rotatedin opposite directions to drive the welding wire between the driverollers. One or both of the drive rollers can include a groove used toguide and maintain the welding wire between the drive rollers as thedrive rollers move the welding wire through the welding wire feed drive.As can be appreciated other and/or additional arrangements for the wirecontact arrangement can be used. The tension of the wire contactarrangement on the welding wire can be fixed or adjustable. In onenon-limiting design, the tension of the wire contact arrangement on thewelding wire is preset and fixed so as to ensure that the proper wiretension is applied to the welding wire.

The proper tension on the welding wire facilitates in ensuring that thewire contact arrangement properly engages and drives the weld wire, thusreducing or preventing incidences of wire slippage which can adverselyaffect the feed rate of the welding wire. If the tension is adjustable,the drive housing can be designed to enable a user to open and/or accessthe wire contact arrangement in the drive housing, and/or include anadjustment knob, screw, button, etc. that enables a user to adjust thetension on the welding wire without having to open and/or access theinterior region of the drive housing. In one non-limiting design, thedrive housing allows access to one or more components in the drivehousing to enable the user to adjust, repair, and/or replace one or morecomponents in the drive housing. The wire contact arrangement can bepartially or fully contained in the drive housing.

In accordance with yet another and/or alternative aspect ofthe presentinvention, the welding wire feed drive can include one or more drivemotors connected to or interconnected to the wire contact arrangementswhich are used to directly or indirectly at least partially drive thewire contact arrangement. The one or more motors are typicallyelectrical motors that are powered by their own power supply (e.g.,battery, etc.), from power generated by the welding system (e.g.,electric generator, etc.), and/or from an external power source (e.g.,electric plug, etc.). The one or more motors can be partially or fullycontained in the drive housing.

In accordance with still yet another and/or alternative aspect of thepresent invention, the welding wire feed drive can include a geararrangement used to at least partially interconnect the one or moredrive motors to the wire contact arrangement. The gear arrangement caninclude one or more gears. When the wire contact arrangement includestwo drive rollers, the gear arrangement can be used to at leastpartially cause the two drive rollers to rotate at a desired speed withrespect to one another. The gear arrangement can be partially or fullycontained in the drive housing.

In accordance with still yet another and/or alternative aspect of thepresent invention, the welding wire feed drive can include one or morewire guides designed to at least partially guide the welding wire withinthe drive housing. In one non-limiting arrangement, there is provided awire guide that at least partially guides the welding wire from the wirecontact arrangement to an exterior of the drive housing. The wire guideis typically designed to facilitate in the guiding of the welding wirethrough an opening in the drive housing and/or to reduce the incidenceof the welding wire kinking or bending as the welding wire is pushedfrom the wire contact arrangement. In another and/or alternativenon-limiting arrangement, there is provided a wire guide that at leastpartially guides the welding wire as the welding wire is fed to the wirecontact arrangement. The wire guide is typically designed to facilitatein the guiding of the welding wire through an opening in the drivehousing and/or from a welding wire source within the drive housing,and/or to reduce the incidence of the welding wire kinking or bending asthe welding wire is fed to the wire contact arrangement.

In one non-limiting design of the wire guide, the wire guide includes acylindrically shaped passageway that has an inner diameter that is alittle larger than the diameter of the welding wire so as to allow thewelding wire to pass through the cylindrically shaped passageway whileinhibiting or preventing the welding wire from kinking as it passesthrough the cylindrically shaped passageway. As can be appreciated,other and/or additional designs of the wire guide can be used.

The one or more wire guides can be partially or fully contained in thedrive housing.

In accordance with a further and/or alternative aspect of the presentinvention, the welding wire feed drive can include a drive housing thatincludes a wire spool compartment designed to contain a spool of weldingwire. The wire spool compartment can include a spool mount designed tosupport the wire spool in a certain position in the wire spoolcompartment and to enable the wire spool to rotate as the welding wireis unwound from the wire spool. In one non-limiting arrangement, thedrive housing can be opened, and/or include an opening and/or openableaccess to the wire spool compartment to enable the wire spool to bereplaced; however, this is not required. As can be appreciated, manyother and/or additional configurations of the wire spool compartment inthe drive housing can be used. In another and/or alternativenon-limiting arrangement, a wire spool tension arrangement is providedto at least partially provide tension to the wire spool in the wirespool compartment. When the wire spool is freely rotatable, the weldingwire on the wire spool can partially unravel or unwind from the spool,thereby resulting in entanglement of the welding wire and/or kinking ofthe welding wire. The wire spool tension arrangement inhibits orprevents the wire spool from freely rotating thereby maintaining atension on the welding wire as the welding wire is fed through thewelding wire feed drive. The tension on the wire spool inhibits orprevents undesired unwinding or unraveling of the welding wire from thewire spool. The wire spool tension arrangement can provide an adjustableor fixed tension to the wire spool. The wire spool tension arrangementcan be partially or fully contained in the drive housing. In stillanother and/or alternative non-limiting arrangement, the welding wiresource is fed to the wire contact arrangement so as to facilitate in theproper feeding of the welding wire from the welding wire feed drive. Inone non-limiting design, when the drive housing includes a spool ofwelding wire, the maximum angle that the welding wire is fed to the wirecontact arrangement from the wire spool relative to a feed axis is lessthan about 50°, and typically less about 45°. The feed axis is definedas the axis at which the wire is fed through the wire contactarrangement. As such, when the wire contact arrangement includes twodrive rollers, the feed axis is along the plane that divides the twodrive rollers. When the angle of the welding wire from the wire spoolrelative to the feed axis is too great, the incidence of wire slippagethrough the wire contact arrangement can increase and/or the desiredwelding wire feed rates cannot be properly maintained. In another and/oralternative non-limiting design, the wire spool is oriented in the spoolcompartment of the drive housing such that when the wire spool is abouthalf depleted, the angle that the welding wire is fed to the wirecontact arrangement from the wire spool relative to a feed axis is about0-20°, and typically about 0-15°, and even more typically about 0-10°.In still another and/or alternative non-limiting design, when thewelding wire is fed from a source external to the drive housing, themaximum angle that the welding wire is fed to the wire contactarrangement from the external welding wire source relative to the feedaxis is less than about 50°, and typically less than about 45°. In oneparticular non-limiting design, the welding wire, that is supplied froma source external to the drive housing, has an angle to the feed axisfrom the point the welding wire enters the drive housing to the wirecontact arrangement of about 0-20°, and typically about 0-15°, and evenmore typically about 0-10°.

In accordance with still a further and/or alternative aspect of thepresent invention, the welding wire feed drive can include a drivehousing that has a front and back wire opening. At least one of the wireopenings can be designed to be detachably connectable to a weldingcable. In one non-limiting arrangement, the back wire opening isdesigned to be connectable to a welding cable. This arrangement canexist when the welding wire feed drive is connected to a welding gun.The welding cable is typically used to provide current from the weldingunit to the welding gun. A welding wire can also be fed through thecable or be fed from a welding wire source inside the drive housing. Inanother and/or alternative non-limiting arrangement, two back wireopening are included on the drive housing. The first wire opening can bedesigned to be connectable to a welding cable. This arrangement can alsoexist when the welding wire feed drive is connected to a welding gun.The welding cable is typically used to provide current from the weldingunit to the welding gun. The second wire opening can be designed toreceive welding wire, such as from a spool of wire connected to thewelding gun. When the welding wire feed drive is used on a welding gun,the front wire opening can be designed to be connected to the frontportion or barrel ofthe welding gun. The front opening enables thewelding wire to pass through the barrel of the gun and then through thetip of the welding gun. The connection arrangement for the welding cableand/or the front portion ofthe welding gun can be a threaded connectionor some other or additional connection that enables an operator todetachably connect such components to the welding wire feed drive. Instill another and/or alternative non-limiting arrangement, the frontwire opening is designed to be connectable to a welding cable. Thisarrangement can exist when the welding wire feed drive is connected to aseparate wire feeder used in conjunction with a welding unit or a wirefeeder integrated in a welding unit. The welding cable is typically usedto provide current from the welding unit to the welding gun and to alsoprovide a pathway for the welding wire to the welding gun. The back wireopening can be used to provide an access to the welding wire into thedrive housing from a source of welding wire (e.g., drum of welding wire,spool of welding wire, package of welding wire, etc.); however, the backwire opening may not be used when the source of welding wire iscontained within the drive housing. The connection arrangement for thewelding cable and/or guide for an external welding wire source can be athreaded connection or some other or additional connection that enablesan operator to detachably connect such components to the welding wirefeed drive.

In accordance with yet a further and/or alternative aspect of thepresent invention, the welding wire feed drive can include anidentification arrangement that provides information about the weldingwire feed drive. Many types of information can be provided by theidentification arrangement. Such information can include, but is notlimited to, the type of welding wire to be used with the welding wirefeed drive, the type of welding wire included in the drive housing, thediameter of welding wire to be used with the welding wire feed drive,the gear ratio of the gear arrangement in the drive housing, the type ofmotor in the drive housing, the speed and/or recommended speed of themotor in the drive housing, the wire tension and/or recommended tensionassociated with the wire contact arrangement, the current and/orrecommended spool break tension, the set and/or recommended welding wirefeed speed, the amount of welding wire remaining on the wire spool, theamount and/or time of use of the welding wire feed drive, modelinformation about the welding wire feed drive, parts informationregarding the welding wire feed drive, information about when and/or inwhat welding unit the welding wire feed drive was used, informationabout the proper welding unit the welding wire feed drive can be usedwith, voltage information for operation of the welding wire feed drive,current information for the operation of the welding wire feed drive,voltage information for the welding power wave, current information forthe welding power wave, welding wire polarity information for thewelding power wave and/or shielding gas information.

The identification arrangement can provide information to the weldingsystem (e.g., welding unit, welding gun, stand alone wire feeder unitused in conjunction with a welding unit, wire feeder integrated in awelding unit, etc.) mechanically (e.g., one or more ridges and/orindents that contact a surface that detects the ridges and/or indents,etc.), visually (e.g., bar code, etc.), electromagnetically (e.g., radiowaves, infrared light, lasers, etc.) and/or electronically (e.g.,information chip, electrical circuit, certain pattern of electricalcontacts, etc.). As can be appreciated, many different arrangements canbe used to convey information about the welding wire feed drive to thewelding system. In one non-limiting arrangement, at least a portion ofthe identification arrangement is located on the exterior surface of thedrive housing so as to facilitate in the transfer of information betweenthe welding wire feed drive and the welding system; however, this is notrequired.

In accordance with still yet a further and/or alternative aspect of thepresent invention, the welding wire feed drive can include a controlinterface that provides information between the welding wire feed driveand the welding system (e.g., welding unit, welding gun, stand alonewire feeder unit used in conjunction with a welding unit, wire feederintegrated in a welding unit, etc.).

This information can include, but is not limited to, control informationto control the operation of the welding wire feed drive (e.g., controlmotor speed, adjust welding wire tension, adjust wire spool tension,change gearing of gear arrangement, etc.) and/or the information caninclude current operating conditions of the welding wire feed drive(e.g., speed of motor, wire feed speed, amount of welding wire remainingon wire spool, welding wire tension, wire spool tension, etc.). Thecontrol interface can transfer such information electronically (e.g.,via electrical contacts); however;

the information can alternatively or additionally be transferred byvarious types of electromagnetic waves (e.g., radio waves, infraredlight, lasers, etc.) and/or other and/or additional means. In onenon-limiting arrangement, at least a portion of the control interface islocated-on the exterior surface of the drive housing so as to facilitatethe transfer of information between the welding wire feed drive and thewelding system; however, this is not required. When a control interfaceand an identification arrangement are included with the welding wirefeed drive, the control interface and the identification arrangement canbe integrated together; however, this is not required.

In accordance with another and/or alternative aspect of the presentinvention, the welding wire feed drive can include a visual identifierto enable a user to easily and/or conveniently identify at least onecharacteristic ofthe welding wire feed drive. In one non-limitingarrangement, the visual identifier includes one or more colors on thewelding wire feed drive and/or packaging for the welding wire feeddrive. The color coding on the welding wire feed drive and/or packagingfor the welding wire feed drive can be representative of the type ofwelding unit the welding wire feed drive can be used in and/or the typeof welding wire that is to be used with and/or is contained in thewelding wire feed drive. As can be appreciated, the color coding can berepresentative of other and/or additional characteristics of the weldingwire feed drive (e.g., diameter of the welding wire in the welding wirefeed drive, amount of welding wire in the welding wire feed drive,shielding gas to be used with the welding wire in the welding wire feeddrive, type of welding gun that can be used with the welding wire feeddrive, the type of welding operations recommended for use with thewelding wire feed drive, etc.). As can also be appreciated, other and/oradditional visual identifiers (e.g., model numbers, model names, etc.)can be used on the welding wire feed drive and/or packaging for thewelding wire feed drive to provide a user with easy and/or convenientinformation about at least one characteristic of the welding wire feeddrive.

In accordance with another and/or alternative aspect of the presentinvention, the welding wire feed drive can include a drive housing thatis conveniently detachably connectable to a gun handle of a welding gunto facilitate in the use of the welding wire feed drive with the weldinggun.

The gun handle can be designed so that when it is connected to thewelding wire feed drive, an operator can more conveniently handle and/oruse the welding gun. In one non-limiting gun handle configuration, thegun handle is designed so as to protect and/or house one or more regionsof the welding wire feed drive so as to provide protection to thewelding wire feed drive. As can be appreciated, many different gunhandle designs can be used. The handle can also be designed to include atrigger that is used to activate the welding wire feed drive so as tocause the welding wire to advance from the tip of the welding gun. Insuch a design, the handle can include mechanical connections, electricalconnections, etc., to enable the trigger to activate the welding wirefeed drive.

As can be appreciated, the handle can include other and/or additionalcontrols to control and/or operate other features ofthe welding wirefeed drive and/or other components ofthe welding system.

In accordance with still another and/or alternative aspect ofthe presentinvention, the welding wire feed drive can include a wire spoolcartridge detachably connectable to the drive housing. The wire spoolcartridge can include a cartridge housing designed to at least partiallyhouse the components of the wire spool cartridge. The cartridge housingcan be formed of a durable material (e.g., metal, plastic, reinforcedpolymers, etc.) so as to withstand the typical environment of a weldingsystem and/or to protect one or more components contained within thecartridge housing. The cartridgehousing can include one or moreconnector arrangements (e.g., tabs, latches, clips, etc.) thatfacilitate in releasably securing the cartridge housing to the drivehousing of the welding wire feed drive. The wire spool cartridge canalso include a spool of welding wire and a wire contact arrangementdesigned to contact the welding wire and drive the welding wire at leastpartially through the wire spool cartridge. In one non-limitingembodiment, the wire contact arrangement includes at least one driveroller. As can be appreciated, other and/or additional configurationscan be used. The drive roller can include one or more rough surfaces tofacilitate in the gripping of the welding wire so as to reduce slippageof the welding wire. When two drive rollers are used, the drive rollerscan be positioned adjacent to one another and rotated in oppositedirections to drive the welding wire between the drive rollers. One orboth of the drive rollers can include a groove used to guide andmaintain the welding wire between the drive rollers as the drive rollersmove the welding wire through the welding wire feed drive. As can beappreciated other and/or additional arrangements for the wire contactarrangement can be used. The spool of welding wire can be rotatablysecured in the cartridge housing. A tension arrangement can be providedto create tension on the spool and/or tension on the wire by the wirecontact arrangement so that a desired proper welding wire tension existswithout any intervention by the user. As such, the drive roll tensionand the spool break tension can be preset and need not be adjusted bythe user; however, this is not required. The cartridge housing can beconfigured so as not to be easily opened by a user. In such aconfiguration, the cartridge housing is designed to be disposable afterthe welding wire on the spool within the cartridge housing is expended.As can be appreciated, the cartridge housing can be designed to allowaccess to the wire spool to enable a user to replace the wire spool. Thewire contact arrangement and the wire spool are partially or fullycontained in the cartridge housing. The wire spool cartridge can includea gear arrangement used to at least partially interconnect the one ormore drive motors to the wire contact arrangement. The wire spoolcartridge can be absent one or more drive motors that are used to drivethe wire contact arrangement; however, this is not required. These oneor more motors are typically located on other regions of the weldingwire feed drive and/or on a wire feeder or in the welding unit. The geararrangement can include one or more gears. When the wire contactarrangement includes two drive rollers, the gear arrangement can be usedto at least partially cause the two drive rollers to rotate at a desiredspeed with respect to one another. The gear arrangement can be partiallyor fully contained in the cartridge housing. The wire spool cartridgecan include one or more wire guides designed to at least partially guidethe welding wire within the cartridge housing. In one non-limitingarrangement, there is provided a wire guide that at least partiallyguides the welding wire from the wire contact arrangement to an exteriorof the cartridge housing. The wire guide can be designed to facilitatein the guiding of the welding wire through an opening in the cartridgehousing and/or to reduce the incidence of the welding wire kinking orbending as the welding wire is pushed from the wire contact arrangement.In another and/or alternative non-limiting arrangement, there isprovided a wire guide that at least partially guides the welding wire asthe welding wire is fed to the wire contact arrangement. The wire guidecan be designed to facilitate in the guiding of the welding wire fromthe wire spool within the cartridge housing to the wire contactarrangement to reduce the incidence of the welding wire kinking orbending as the welding wire is fed to the wire contact arrangement. Inone non-limiting design ofthe wire guide, the wire guide includes acylindrically shaped passageway that has an inner diameter that is alittle larger than the diameter of the welding wire so as to allow thewelding wire to pass through the cylindrically shaped passageway whileinhibiting or preventing the welding wire from kinking as it passesthrough the cylindrically shaped passageway. As can be appreciated,other and/or additional designs of the wire guide can be used. The oneor more wire guides can be partially or fully contained in the cartridgehousing. The wire spool cartridge can include a cartridge identificationarrangement that provides information about the wire spool cartridge.Many types of information can be provided by the cartridgeidentification arrangement. Such information can include, but is notlimited to, the type of welding wire in the cartridge housing, thediameter of welding wire in the cartridge housing, the gear ratio of thegear arrangement in the cartridge housing, the wire tension associatedwith the wire contact arrangement, the spool break tension of the wirespool in the cartridge housing, welding wire feed speed setting, theamount of welding wire remaining on the wire spool, model informationabout the wire spool cartridge, parts information regarding the wirespool cartridge, information about the proper welding unit the wirespool cartridge can be used with, voltage information for the weldingpower wave, current information for the welding power wave, welding wirepolarity information for the welding power wave and/or shielding gasinformation. The cartridge identification arrangement can provideinformation about the wire spool cartridge mechanically (e.g., one ormore ridges and/or indents that contact a surface that detects theridges and/or indents, etc.), visually (e.g., bar code, etc.),electromagnetically (e.g., radio waves, infrared light, lasers, etc.)and/or electronically (e.g., information chip, electrical circuit,certain pattern of electrical contacts, etc.). As can be appreciated,many different arrangements can be used to convey information about thewire spool cartridge. In one non-limiting arrangement, at least aportion of the cartridge identification arrangement is located on theexterior surface of the cartridge housing so as to facilitate thetransfer of information between the wire spool cartridge and the weldingwire feed drive and/or the welding system; however, this is notrequired. The wire spool cartridge can include a cartridge controlinterface that provides information between the wire spool cartridge andthe welding wire feed drive and/or the welding system. This informationcan include, but is not limited to, information about the currentoperating conditions of the wire spool cartridge (e.g., wire feed speed,amount of welding wire remaining on wire spool, welding wire tension,wire spool tension, gearing ratio, etc.). As can be appreciated otherand/or additional information can be transferred between the cartridgecontrol interface. The cartridge control interface can transfer suchinformation electronically (e.g., via electrical contacts); however; theinformation can alternatively or additionally be transferred by varioustypes of electromagnetic waves (e.g., radio waves, infrared light,lasers, etc.), and/or by other and/or additional means. In onenon-limiting arrangement, at least a portion of the cartridge controlinterface is located on the exterior surface of the cartridge housing soas to facilitate the transfer of information between the wire spoolcartridge and the welding wire feed drive and/or the welding system;however, this is not required. As can be appreciated, the cartridgecontrol interface and the cartridge identification arrangement can beintegrated together; however, this is not required. The wire spoolcartridge can include a visual identifier to enable a user to easilyand/or conveniently identify at least one characteristic of the wirespool cartridge. In one non-limiting arrangement, the visual identifierincludes one or more colors on the wire spool cartridge and/or packagingfor the wire spool cartridge. The color coding can be representative ofthe type of welding unit and/or the type of welding wire feed drive thewire spool cartridge can be used in and/or the type of welding wire thatis contained in the cartridge housing of the wire spool cartridge. Ascan be appreciated, the color coding can be representative of otherand/or additional characteristics ofthe wire spool cartridge. As canalso be appreciated, other and/or additional visual identifiers (e.g.,model numbers, model names, etc.) can be used on the wire spoolcartridge and/or packaging for the wire spool cartridge to provide auser with easy and/or convenient information about at least onecharacteristic of the wire spool cartridge.

One object of the present invention is to provide an interchangeableand/or modular welding wire feed drive for use in a welding system.

Another and/or alternative object of the present invention is theprovision of a welding wire feed drive that can be detachably connectedto a wire feeder system that is connected to and/or integrated with awelding gun, and/or a wire feeder system that is integrated in and/or isused in conjunction with a welding unit.

Still another and/or alternative object of the present invention is theprovision of a welding wire feed drive that includes a drive housing, awire contact arrangement, a drive motor, a gear arrangement, a wireguide, a wire spool compartment, and/or a spool of welding wire.

Yet another and/or alternative object of the present invention is theprovision of a welding wire feed drive that can include anidentification arrangement that provides information about the weldingwire feed drive.

Still yet another and/or alternative object of the present invention isthe provision of a welding wire feed drive that can include a controlinterface that provides information between the welding wire feed driveand the welding system.

A further and/or alternative object of the present invention is theprovision of a welding wire feed drive that can include a visualidentifier to enable a user to easily and/or conveniently identify atleast one characteristic of the welding wire feed drive.

Still a further and/or alternative object of the present invention isthe provision of a welding wire feed drive that can include a wire spoolcartridge that is detachably connectable to the drive housing.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and following thisdescription taken together with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference may now be made to the drawings which illustrate variousembodiments that the invention may take in physical form and certainparts and arrangements of parts wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art wire feeder that feedswelding wire into a welding gun;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a prior art spool gun having a wirefeeder integrated in the welding gun;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of a wire feeder that feeds weldingwire into a welding gun in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial exploded view of the wire feeder illustrated in FIG.3;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation view of a spool gun in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 6 is a front view of the modular wire feed drive that is positionedin a wire feeder in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the modular wire feed drive that ispositioned on a wire feeder in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a front view ofthe modular wire feed drive removed from a wireand connected to a welding gun in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view alone lines 8-8 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view of the modular wire feed drive ofFIG. 8; and,

FIG. 10 is across-sectional view alone lines 10-10 of FIG. 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, wherein the showings are for the purposesof illustrating the preferred embodiments of the invention only and notfor the purpose of limiting the same, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a priorart wire feeder 20 and a prior art welding gun 100, respectively. Priorart wire feeder 20 is representative of a wire feeder integrated in awelding unit, not shown, such as, but not limited to, the Power MIG 225offered by The Lincoln Electric Company, or a stand alone wire feederthat is used in conjunction with a welding unit, not shown, such as, butnot limited to, the LF 72 Wire Feeder offered by The Lincoln ElectricCompany; however, the wire feeder is not limited to these two models ofwelding units or stand-alone wire feeders.

Stand-alone or integrated wire feeder 20 includes a reel or spool 30 ofwelding wire 32 rotatably positioned on a spindle 34. The welding wire32 is feed into a wire guide 40 that directs the welding wire to driverollers 50, 52. A motor 60 causes the drive rollers to rotate inopposite directions by the use of a gear arrangement 70. The rotation ofthe drive rollers causes the welding wire to be drawn from reel 30 at acontrolled rate and to push the welding wire through a second wire guide42. The welding wire continues to be pushed by the drive rollers into awelding cable 80 that is connected to the wire feeder. The welding wirepasses through the welding cable and into a welding gun 90, and thenthrough the tip 92 of the welding gun to be deposited in molten form onworkpiece W. An electric arc A is used to melt the advancing weldingwire. The welding gun includes a trigger 94 to send a signal to the wirefeeder and/or welding unit to control the operation of motor 60.

Prior art spool gun 100 is representative ofthe MAGNUM SG spool gun orthe PRINCE XL spool gun offered by The Lincoln Electric Company;however, spool gun 100 is not limited to these two models of spool guns.The prior art spool gun includes a handle 110 and a body 112. Connectedto the body is a bracket 114 that supports a wire. spool 120. Wire spool120 includes welding wire 122. Connected to the rear of body 112 are oneor more cables 130, 132, 134. These cables typically provide a weldingcurrent to the spool gun, and transfer one or more control signalsbetween the spool gun and the welding unit and/or some other componentof the welding system, not shown. One of the cables can also beconnected to a wire feeder that is integrated in a welding unit or is astand alone wire feeder that is designed to supply welding wire from thewire feeder to the spool gun. Welding wire is typically not supplied bythe cable when the wire spool 120 is used to provide welding wire to thespool gun. The spool gun also includes drive rollers, not shown, in thebody of the spool gun. A motor, not shown, is typically positioned inthe handle 100 and is connected to the drive roller by gears, not shown.A trigger 114 is used to control the operation of the motor to cause thewelding wire to be advanced by the drive rollers. A gun barrel 140 isconnected to the front end of body 112 and a welding tip 142 isconnected to the front end of gun barrel 140. The welding wire that ispushed through the gun barrel and welding tip by the drive rollers ismelted by an electric arc A and the molten metal is deposited onworkpiece W.

The configuration of the MAGNUM SG spool gun and the PRINCE XL spool gunare such as to enable a user to modify the welding guns and to use thesewelding guns both as a spool gun and as welding gun without a spoolwire. The modification of the welding gun from a spool gun to a weldinggun without a spool typically requires the removal of the spindle andwire spool from the welding gun, the disengagement of the motor in thewelding gun and the disengagement of the drive rollers from the weldingwire in the welding gun. The weight of the welding gun is reduced by theremoval of the spindle and wire spool, but the added weight associatedwith the drive rollers, gears and motor remain. When the welding gun isconverted back into a spool gun, the spindle and wire spool arereconnected to the welding gun and the motor and drive roller arereengaged. The components and operation of prior art wire feeders andspool guns are well known in the art, thus a detailed description ofsuch operation and components will not be further discussed.

The current configuration of spool guns requires the welding gun to bereconfigured or substituted for another welding gun when converted foruse between a welding operation that uses rigid welding wire and awelding operation that uses less rigid welding wire. Welding guns suchas the MAGNUM SG spool gun and the PRINCE XL spool gun can be convertedfor use in both types of operations; however some welding guns aredesigned to be dedicated for a single use. As such, additional weldingguns may have to be purchased for use in various types of weldingoperations. When the welding gun is a spool gun or converted into aspool gun so that the welding wire is supplied through a welding cableto the welding gun, the wire feed arrangement on the wire feeder that isintegrated with a welding unit or on a stand-alone unit must bepartially or fully disengaged; other wise increased incident ofkinkingofthe welding wire will occur and/or increased incidence of improperwire feed rates will occur. For instance, a welding unit such as thePower MIG 255 can be used with or without a spool gun. The welding unitincludes a wire feeder integrated in the welding unit. A spool ofwelding wire is also housed within the welding unit. When a spool gun isused on such a welding unit and the welding wire is to be supplied fromthe welding unit, the drive rollers on the wire feeder in the weldingunit are required to be adjusted or disengaged from the welding wire sothat only the drive wheels on the spool gun cause the welding wire to bedrawn to the welding gun through a welding cable without the driveroller in the welding unit simultaneously pushing the welding wirethrough the welding cable to the welding gun. This adjustment is timeconsuming and/or can increase incidence of damage to the drive rollerarrangement in the welding unit and/or cause the drive rollerarrangement to become misaligned, etc. Similarly, when the weldingprocedure does not require the use of a spool gun, the spool gun isrequired to be converted into a non-spooling arrangement or replacedwith a welding gun that is not a spool gun. The conversion of the spoolgun to a non-spooling arrangement can be time consuming and/or canincrease incidence of damage to the drive roller arrangement in thewelding gun and/or cause the drive roller to become misaligned, etc.Furthermore, the drive rollers in the welding unit must now be reengagedand the tension on the drive roller arrangement and the wire spoolproperly adjusted.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a wire feeder 200 whichincludes a housing 210 with a handle 212. Connected to the wire feederis a welding cable 280. One end ofthe welding cable is positioned infront opening 216 of housing 210. The other end of the welding cable isconnected to welding gun 290. The welding gun includes a body 292 and atrigger 294 to control the advancement of welding wire through thewelding gun. The welding gun also includes a barrel 296 that isconnected at one end to body 292 and at the other end to welding tip298. Positioned inside a side cavity 214 of the housing of the wirefeeder is a welding wire feed drive 300. The welding wire feed drive isdetachably connected to a drive housing interface 220 that is positionedin the side cavity of the housing. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the driveinterface 220 has a shape that enables the welding wire feed drive to beeasily connected and disconnected from the housing. The drive interfacecan have a shape that only allows the welding wire feed drive to beoriented and connected in a certain manner to ensure that the weldingwire feed drive has been properly connected to the housing.

Welding wire feed drive 300 includes a housing 310 that has a frontopening 312 and a rear opening 314. As shown in FIG. 3, the frontopening is adapted to be connected to one end of welding cable 280. Thefront opening can include a connection arrangement (e.g., threadedconnection, clamp connection, quick-release connector, etc.) tofacilitate in securing the end of the welding cable to the frontopening. The rear opening can be adapted to 1) receive a welding wire400 that is provided from an external welding wire source, 2) provideaccess to one or more electrical connections to provide power to one ormore components in the welding wire feed drive, 3) provide communicationand/or control signals between the welding wire feed drive and the wirefeeder and/or welding gun, and/or 4) facilitate in the connection of thewelding wire feed drive to the wire feeder. Alternatively, the rearopening could be plugged closed when the welding wire feed drive isdetachably connected to a drive housing interface 220 of housing 210. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, a dotted line represents welding wire 400 that isbeing provided from an external source 410 (e.g., wire spool, wire drum,wire package, etc.). Housing 210 can include a rear opening 218 thatenables an external source of welding wire to enter the housing of thewire feeder. As can be appreciated, the external source of welding wirecan be positioned in cavity 214 of the house, thus eliminating the needfor rear opening 218. When an external source of welding wire is used,an opening 242 is located in interface block 240 that is positioned incavity 214. Interface block 240 can be adapted to 1) enable rear opening314 of housing 310 of the welding wire feed drive to be detachablysecured so as to facilitate in connecting and securing the welding wirefeed drive to the wire feeder, 2) provide an electrical interfacebetween the wire feeder and the welding wire feed drive so as to enablecommunication and/or control between the welding wire feed drive and thewire feeder and/or welding gun, 3) provide an electrical interfacebetween the wire feeder and the welding wire feed drive so as to supplypower to the welding wire feed drive, and/or 4) guide an externalwelding wire source into the rear opening 314 of the welding wire feeddrive. The welding wire feed drive, when connected to the drive housinginterface 220, is designed to push welding wire through welding cable280 and into and through welding gun 290.

Referring now to FIG. 5, welding wire feed drive is shown to bedisconnected from drive housing interface 220 of housing 210 andconnected to the welding gun. One end of welding cable 280 is connectedto interface block 240. The front of the drive interface can include aconnection arrangement (e.g., threaded connection, clamp connection,quick-release connector, etc.) to facilitate in securing the end of thewelding cable to the interface block. In this configuration, interfaceblock 240 can be adapted to 1) provide an electrical interface betweenthe wire feeder and the welding gun via the welding cable so as toenable communication and/or control between the welding wire feed driveand the welding gun, 2) provide an electrical interface between the wirefeeder and the welding gun via the welding cable so as to supply powerto the welding wire feed drive and/or welding gun, and/or 3) guide anexternal welding wire source into the welding cable. As illustrated inFIG. 5, a dotted line represents welding wire 400 that is being providedfrom an external source 410 (e.g., wire spool, wire drum, wire package,etc.). Housing 210 can include a rear opening 218 that enables anexternal source of welding wire to enter the housing of the wire feeder.As can be appreciated, the external source of welding wire can bepositioned in cavity 214 of the housing, thus eliminating the need forrear opening 218. When an external source of welding wire is used, anopening 242 is located in interface block 240.

When the welding wire feed drive is incorporated into the welding gun asshown in FIG. 5, the body 292 of the welding gun is replaced withwelding wire feed drive 300. The barrel 296 of the welding gun isdisconnected from body 292 and connected to front opening 312 in housing310 of the welding wire feed drive. Front opening 312 can include aconnection arrangement (e.g., threaded connection, clamp connection,quick-release connector, etc.) to facilitate in securing the barrel tohousing 310. The end of welding cable 280 is also disconnected from body292 and connected to rear opening 314 of housing 310. Rear opening 314can include a connection arrangement (e.g., threaded connection, clampconnection, quick-release connector, etc.) to facilitate in securing thewelding cable to housing 310. A handle 430 can be connected to thewelding wire feed drive to provide protection to one or more regions ofthe welding wire feed drive, to facilitate in the handling and/oroperating of the welding gun that includes the welding wire feed drive,and/or to provide one or more control elements (e.g., control trigger,etc.) What are used to facilitate in the operation of the welding gun,wire feeder and/or welding unit. The welding wire feed drive, whenconnected to the welding gun, is designed to push welding wire a shortdistance through the welding gun 290. This configuration is commonlyused for less rigid welding wire such as, but not limited to, aluminumwelding wire.

As represented in FIGS. 3-5, thewelding wire feed drive of the presentinvention enables an operator to easily convert and rather quicklymodify the welding gun for use with a particular welding wire and/orwelding operation. The welding wire feed drive can be positioned in thewire feeder when using a more rigid welding wire that can be pushedthrough a welding cable and into a welding gun. In such a configuration,the welding gun does not include the unneeded drive rollers and motor asexisting in prior art welding guns such as MAGNUM SG spool gun and thePRINCE XL spool gun. When a welding operation requires the use of a lessrigid welding wire, the welding wire feed drive can be easily andquickly detached from the wire feeder and connected to the welding gun.In this configuration, only a single motor arrangement and drive rollermechanism exists on the welding gun, thus the need to disable a weldingwire feed drive arrangement on the wire feeders, as required in pastwelding units, is eliminated.

Referring now to FIGS. 6-10, several detailed views of a few of the manyembodiments of the welding wire feed drive arrangement are illustrated.FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the welding wire feed drivearrangement 300 while connected in cavity 214 of the wire feeder. Thehousing 310 of the welding wire feed drive includes three principlecompartments, namely, 1) a wire spool compartment 320, 2) a drive rollercompartment 330, and 3) a motor compartment 340. The wire spoolcompartment is adapted to rotatably secure a spool 420 of welding wire.A central mount 322 can be used to rotatably mount the spindle of thewire spool in the wire spool compartment. As can be appreciated, a spoolof wire need not be used when the welding wire feed drive is secured inthe wire feeder. An external source of welding wire can be fed into thewire spool compartment via rear opening 314. When a wire spool is used,the wire spool maintains its tension to inhibit or prevent the weldingwire from uncontrollably unraveling from the wire spool. The amount oftension applied to the wire spool can be fixed or adjustable. Thetension mechanism can be part of the central mount 322 or be provided byanother or additional arrangement.

The welding wire 400 from the wire spool or external source is adaptedto move from the wire spool compartment 320 to drive roller compartment330. Drive roller compartment 330 includes two drive rollers 440,442. Ascan be appreciated, a greater or lesser number of drive rollers can beused. The drive rollers are positioned adjacent to one another such thatthe welding wire passes between the drive rollers. The wire spool ispositioned in the wire spool compartment such that the welding wire fedfrom the wire spool has a maximum feed angle a relative to the feed axis(as indicated by a dotted line) from the drive roller of less than about50°. The drive rollers can each include a guide groove 444, 446 asillustrated in FIG. 10 to facilitate in the feeding of the welding wirebetween the drive rollers when the drive rollers are rotating. The driverollers are connected to a gear arrangement that includes gears 450,452, 454, 456. As can be appreciated, many types of gear arrangementscan be used which include the same, less, or more gears. The geararrangement is designed to cause the two drive rollers to rotate inopposite directions. The gear arrangement is also designed to rotate thetwo drive rollers at a proper speed relative to one another to achievethe desired welding wire feed rate. Typically when the drive rollers arethe same size, the gear arrangement rotates the drive rollers atsubstantially the same speed; however, when the drive rollers are adifferent size, the speed of rotation of the two drive rollers may bedifferent. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the gears of the gear arrangementare located in the drive roller compartment and the motor compartment.As can be appreciated, the gears can be positioned in other ways (e.g.,all gears in the drive roller compartment, all gears in the motorcompartment, most gears in the drive roller compartment, most gears inthe motor compartment, gears in the wire spool compartment, etc.).

A motor 450 is used to rotate the gears of the gear arrangement. Themotor is typically an electrical motor located in the motor compartment340. The motor is typically powered by the wire feeder or welding unit;however, a motor battery, not shown, can be used to power the motor.

Referring again to FIG. 6, the welding gun includes a trigger 294 thatis activated by a user to control the advancement of the welding wire bythe welding wire feed drive arrangement which is positioned in the wirefeeder. A control cable or wire, not shown, is connected between thewelding gun and the wire feeder via the welding cable 280. As thewelding wire is advanced by the welding wire feed drive arrangement, thewelding wire is pushed through the welding gun and out from welding tip298. An electric arc A melts a portion of the welding wire and themolten metal is deposited on workpiece W. The welding cable is designedto provide power from the wire feeder to the welding gun to generateelectric arc A.

Referring to FIG. 7, the welding wire feed drive 300 is disconnectedfrom drive housing interface 220 of wire feeder 200 and forms part ofwelding gun 290. As shown in FIG. 7, the drive housing interface 220includes a circular opening 222 that is adapted to receive the portionof housing 310 that includes the motor compartment 340. The drivehousing interface 220 also includes a longitudinal slot 224 that can beused to facilitate in the connection of the welding wire feed drive tothe drive housing interface 220. As can be appreciated, the drivehousing interface 220 can have many other configurations. One end of thewelding cable 280 is connected to interface block 240. The other end ofthe welding cable is connected to rear opening 314 in the housing ofwelding wire feed drive. A detachable handle 430 is connected to thehousing of the welding wire feed drive. The handle is used by theoperator of the welding gun to facilitate in the use of the welding gun.The handle can include a trigger 432 that is used to control theoperation of the welding wire feed drive to advance the welding wirethrough the welding gun. The handle can include other or additionalcontrols to monitor and/or control other features of the welding gun,wire feeder and/or welding unit.

Referring now to FIG. 8, the welding wire feed drive can include aninterface that is used to send and/or receive information between areader 500. The reader can be part of handle 430 and/or can be part ofdrive housing interface 220. The information sent and/or received can beinformation to control and/or monitor one or more components of thewelding system. As shown in FIG. 8, the information transferred toand/or from the reader 500 is monitored and/or received by a welder 600that is connected to the wire feeder and/or integrated with the wirefeeder. The welder in turn can be designed to send and/or receiveinformation to the reader. The reader can obtain informationmechanically, electrically, electromagnetically, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the housing of the welding wire feed drive caninclude one or more visual identifiers 700 that can be used to provideinformation about one or more characteristics of the welding wire feeddrive. The drive housing can include one or more transparent and/orsemi-transparent regions to enable a user to view inside the drivehousing to obtain information about the welding wire feed drive (e.g.,amount of welding wire remaining on the spool, etc.).

The invention has been described with reference to a preferredembodiment and alternates thereof. It is believed that manymodifications, alterations to the embodiments disclosed readily suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art upon reading and understandingthe detailed description of the invention. It is intended to include allsuch modifications and alterations in-so-far as they come within thescope of the present invention.

1. A modular-detachable welding wire feed drive for use in a weldingsystem, said welding wire feed drive including a drive housing designedto be detachably connectable to the welding wire feed system, a wirecontact arrangement designed to controllably feed welding wire throughsaid welding wire feed drive, and a drive motor that is connected to orinterconnected to said wire contact arrangement to at least partiallydrive said wire contact arrangement, said welding system including awire feed system selected from the group consisting of a welder wirefeeder designed to push welding wire through a welding cable, a gun wirefeeder designed to be integrated with a welding gun, or combinationsthereof.
 2. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1, whereinsaid wire contact arrangement includes at least one drive roller.
 3. Thewelding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1, including a geararrangement to interconnect said drive motor to said wire contactarrangement.
 4. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 2,including a gear arrangement to interconnect said drive motor to saidwire contact arrangement.
 5. The welding wire feed drive as defined inclaim 1, including a wire guide designed to at least partially guidesaid welding wire from said wire contact arrangement to an exterior ofsaid drive housing.
 6. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim4, including a wire guide designed to at least partially guide saidwelding wire from said wire contact arrangement to an exterior of saiddrive housing.
 7. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1,wherein said drive housing includes a wire spool compartment designed tocontain a spool of welding wire.
 8. The welding wire feed drive asdefined in claim 6, wherein said drive housing includes a wire spoolcompartment designed to contain a spool of welding wire.
 9. The weldingwire feed drive as defined in claim 7, wherein said wire spoolcompartment is designed to enable replacement of said spool of weldingwire.
 10. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1, whereinsaid housing includes a front and back wire opening, at least one ofsaid openings is designed to be detachably connectable to a weldingcable.
 11. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 8, whereinsaid housing includes a front and back wire opening, at least one ofsaid openings is designed to be detachably connectable to a weldingcable.
 12. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1, includinga wire spool tension arrangement designed to apply tension to said spoolas such spool rotates in said drive housing.
 13. The welding wire feeddrive as defined in claim 11, including a wire spool tension arrangementdesigned to apply tension to said spool as such spool rotates in saiddrive housing.
 14. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1,including an identification arrangement at least partially on anexterior of said housing, said identification arrangement providinginformation about at least one component characteristic of said weldingwire feed drive, said component characteristic including characteristicselected from the group consisting of type of said welding wire to beused with said welding wire feed drive, type of said welding wireincluding in said drive housing, diameter of said welding wire to beused with said welding wire feed drive, gear ratio of said geararrangement in said drive housing, type of motor in said drive housing,speed or recommended speed of said motor in said drive housing, wiretension or recommended wire tension associated with said wire contactarrangement, current or recommended spool break tension, set orrecommended welding wire feed speed, amount of said welding wireremaining on said wire spool, amount of use of said welding wire feeddrive, model information about said welding wire feed drive, partsinformation regarding said welding wire feed drive, information aboutwhen said welding wire feed drive was used, information about whatwelding unit said welding wire feed drive was used, information aboutthe proper welding unit said welding wire feed drive can be used with,voltage information for operation of said welding wire feed drive,current information for the operation of said welding wire feed drive,voltage information for a welding power wave, current information for awelding power wave, welding wire polarity information for a weldingpower wave, shielding gas information, or combinations thereof.
 15. Thewelding wire feed drive as defined in claim 13, including anidentification arrangement at least partially on an exterior of saidhousing, said identification arrangement providing information about atleast one component characteristic of said welding wire feed drive, saidcomponent characteristic including characteristic selected from thegroup consisting of type of said welding wire to be used with saidwelding wire feed drive, type of said welding wire included in saiddrive housing, diameter of said welding wire to be used with saidwelding wire feed drive, gear ratio of said gear arrangement in saiddrive housing, type of motor in said drive housing, speed or recommendedspeed of said motor in said drive housing, wire tension or recommendedwire tension associated with said wire contact arrangement, current orrecommended spool break tension, set or recommended welding wire feedspeed, amount of said welding wire remaining on said wire spool, amountof use of said welding wire feed drive, model information about saidwelding wire feed drive, parts information regarding said welding wirefeed drive, information about when said welding wire feed drive wasused, information about what welding unit said welding wire feed drivewas used, information about the proper welding unit said welding wirefeed drive can be used with, voltage information for operation of saidwelding wire feed drive, current information for the operation of saidwelding wire feed drive, voltage information for a welding power wave,current information for a welding power wave, welding wire polarityinformation for a welding power wave, shielding gas information, orcombinations thereof.
 16. The welding wire feed drive as defined inclaim 1, including a control interface that provides information betweensaid welding wire feed drive and said welding system.
 17. The weldingwire feed drive as defined in claim 15, including a control interfacethat provides information between said welding wire feed drive and saidwelding system.
 18. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1,wherein an exterior of said drive housing includes a color coding usedto identify at least one characteristic of said welding wire feed drive.19. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim 17, wherein anexterior of said drive housing includes a color coding used to identifyat least one characteristic of said welding wire feed drive.
 20. Thewelding wire feed drive as defined in claim 1, wherein said drive motorand said wire contact arrangement are at least partially contained insaid drive housing.
 21. The welding wire feed drive as defined in claim19, wherein said drive motor and said wire contact arrangement are atleast partially contained in said drive housing.
 22. The welding wirefeed drive as defined in claim 1, including a wire spool cartridgedetachably connectable to said drive housing, said wire spool cartridgeincluding a spool cavity to rotatably secure a spool of wire and saidwire contact arrangement.
 23. The welding wire feed drive as defined inclaim 21, including a wire spool cartridge detachably connectable tosaid drive housing, said wire spool cartridge including a spool cavityto rotatably secure a spool of wire and said wire contact arrangement.24. A method of supplying welding wire to a welding system comprising:a) providing a welding wire feed system, said welding wire feed systemselected from the group consisting of a welder wire feeder designed topush welding wire through a welding cable, a gun wire feeder designed tobe integrated with a welding gun, or combinations thereof; b) providinga modular-detachable welding wire feed drive for use in said weldingwire feed system, said welding wire feed drive including a drive housingdesigned to be detachably connectable to the welding wire feed system, awire contact arrangement designed to controllably feed welding wirethrough said welding wire feed drive, and a drive motor that isconnected to or interconnected to said wire contact arrangement to atleast partially drive said wire contact arrangement; and, c) detachablyconnecting said modular-detachable welding wire feed drive to saidwelding wire feed system.
 25. The method as defined in claim 24, whereinsaid wire contact arrangement includes at least one drive roller. 26.The method as defined in claim 24, including a gear arrangement tointerconnect said drive motor to said wire contact arrangement.
 27. Themethod as defined in claim 25, including a gear arrangement tointerconnect said drive motor to said wire contact arrangement.
 28. Themethod as defined in claim 24, including a wire guide designed to atleast partially guide said welding wire from said wire contactarrangement to an exterior of said drive housing.
 29. The method asdefined in claim 27, including a wire guide designed to at leastpartially guide said welding wire from said wire contact arrangement toan exterior of said drive housing.
 30. The method as defined in claim24, wherein said drive housing includes a wire spool compartmentdesigned to contain a spool of welding wire.
 31. The method as definedin claim 29, wherein said drive housing includes a wire spoolcompartment designed to contain a spool of welding wire.
 32. The methodas defined in claim 30, including the step of replacing a spool ofwelding wire in said drive housing.
 33. The method as defined in claim24, wherein said housing includes a front and back wire opening, atleast one of said openings is designed to be detachably connectable to awelding cable.
 34. The method as defined in claim 31, wherein saidhousing includes a front and back wire opening, at least one of saidopenings is designed to be detachably connectable to a welding cable.35. The method as defined in claim 24, including a wire spool tensionarrangement designed to apply tension to said spool as such spoolrotates in said drive housing.
 36. The method as defined in claim 34,including a wire spool tension arrangement designed to apply tension tosaid spool as such spool rotates in said drive housing.
 37. The methodas defined in claim 24, including the step of identifying at least onecomponent characteristic of said welding wire feed drive by use of anidentification arrangement positioned at least partially on an exteriorof said drive housing, said component characteristic includingcharacteristic selected from the group consisting of type of saidwelding wire to be used with said welding wire feed drive, type of saidwelding wire included in said drive housing, diameter of said weldingwire to be used with said welding wire feed drive, gear ratio of saidgear arrangement in said drive housing, type of motor in said drivehousing, speed or recommended speed of said motor in said drive housing,wire tension or recommended wire tension associated with said wirecontact arrangement, current or recommended spool break tension, set orrecommended welding wire feed speed, amount of said welding wireremaining on said wire spool, amount of use of said welding wire feeddrive, model information about said welding wire feed drive, partsinformation regarding said welding wire feed drive, information aboutwhen said welding wire feed drive was used, information about whatwelding unit said welding wire feed drive was used, information aboutthe proper welding unit said welding wire feed drive can be used with,voltage information for operation of said welding wire feed drive,current information for the operation of said welding wire feed drive,voltage information for a welding power wave, current information for awelding power wave, welding wire polarity information for a weldingpower wave, shielding gas information, or combinations thereof.
 38. Themethod as defined in claim 36, including the step of identifying atleast one component characteristic of said welding wire feed drive byuse of an identification arrangement positioned at least partially on anexterior of said drive housing, said component characteristic includingcharacteristic selected from the group consisting of type of saidwelding wire to be used with said welding wire feed drive, type of saidwelding wire included in said drive housing, diameter of said weldingwire to be used with said welding wire feed drive, gear ratio of saidgear arrangement in said drive housing, type of motor in said drivehousing, speed or recommended speed of said motor in said drive housing,wire tension or recommended wire tension associated with said wirecontact arrangement, current or recommended spool break tension, set orrecommended welding wire feed speed, amount of said welding wireremaining on said wire spool, amount of use of said welding wire feeddrive, model information about said welding wire feed drive, partsinformation regarding said welding wire feed drive, information aboutwhen said welding wire feed drive was used, information about whatwelding unit said welding wire feed drive was used, information aboutthe proper welding unit said welding wire feed drive can be used with,voltage information for operation of said welding wire feed drive,current information for the operation of said welding wire feed drive,voltage information for a welding power wave, current information for awelding power wave, welding wire polarity information for a weldingpower wave, shielding gas information, or combinations thereof.
 39. Themethod as defined in claim 24, including the step of providinginformation between said welding wire feed drive and said weldingsystem.
 40. The method as defined in claim 38, including the step ofproviding information between said welding wire feed drive and saidwelding system.
 41. The method as defined in claim 24, wherein anexterior of said drive housing includes a color coding to identify atleast one characteristic of said welding wire feed drive.
 42. The methodas defined in claim 40, wherein an exterior of said drive housingincludes a color coding to identify at least one characteristic of saidwelding wire feed drive.
 43. The method as defined in claim 24, whereinsaid drive motor and said wire contact arrangement are at leastpartially contained in said drive housing.
 44. The method as defined inclaim 42, wherein said drive motor and said wire contact arrangement areat least partially contained in said drive housing.
 45. The method asdefined in claim 24, including the step of detachably connecting a wirespool cartridge to said drive housing, said wire spool cartridgeincluding a spool cavity to rotatably secure a spool of wire and saidwire contact arrangement.
 46. The method as defined in claim 44,including the step of detachably connecting a wire spool cartridge tosaid drive housing, said wire spool cartridge including a spool cavityto, rotatably secure a spool of wire and said wire contact arrangement.